The Super Bowl is the biggest sports/entertainment event in America. But this year's Super Bowl XLIX is being "brought to its knees" by Deflategate, warns Cris Collinsworth of NBC Sports.

Every Super Bowl has its own story lines. But the news that the NFL is investigating why 11 of 12 balls used by the Patriots were deflated to illegal levels in their AFC Championship Game victory over the Indianapolis Colts has overshadowed everything, said Collinsworth. He'll call Sunday's game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, with play-by-play announcer Al Michaels and sideline reporter Michele Tafoya.

"Could the Super Bowl really be brought to its knees based on a couple of pounds per inch (PSI) in a football? But that's exactly what's been happening," Colllinsworth said Tuesday during a media conference call.

The NBC analyst made his comments after I asked him about the NFL's questionable practice of allowing refs to hand approved balls back to clubs after a pre-game inspection to make sure they meet the league-mandated inflation levels of 12.5 PSI to 13.5 PSI. That allows QBs to use their own "broken-in" footballs. But it also presents a golden opportunity for equipment managers and ballboys to tamper with the balls before, and during a game, to get them just the way their QB's like them.

Similar to NFL refs, MLB umpires also approve a pool of game balls. But once that's done, baseball umps have full control over the baseballs. They are not given back to teams after inspection. Neither team is ever allowed to provide their "own" balls for a game. Only the umps do that.

Many people who've been around the game never considered "you could cheat with the football," noted Collinsworth.

"I played for eight years. I've been broadcasting for 25. I never considered the possibility that there could be a controversy over the football itself. I just haven't. So I think the league is obviously going to make a few changes on a lot of things."

After Super Bowl XLIX is in the history books, Collinsworth expects the NFL investigation to produce some changes in whether NFL offenses are allowed to provide their own footballs.

Super Bowl XLIX producer Fred Gaudelli noted Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II has already gone on record saying there should be just one set of game balls. "I don't think the quarterbacks will really be happy about that," says Gaudelli.

Life could end up imitating art in Deflategate.

Only a few days after Saturday Night Liveaired a skit where an equipment manager named "Dougie Spoons" was responsible for deflating the balls, Fox Sports' Jay Glazer reported the NFL probe has zeroed in on a Patriots locker room attendants who was videotaped allegedly taking the balls from the official's room to another room inside Gillette Stadium before bringing them on to the field.

Despite all the balls jokes, the NFL is facing a perfect storm of its own making. Many people don't trust Pats coach Bill Belichick after Spygate. They don't trust NFL investigators after the league's Keystone Cops fiasco with Ray Rice. For a league as anal-retentive as the NFL, allowing teams to prepare and handle their own game balls seems like an invitation to cheat. Stay tuned.